​Blog!Strike! News and Gaming Thoughts﻿﻿

Like the title says, the latest mini-expansion is up on Drivethru. I really like how it turned out, and I think that you'll find a lot of good steal-able ideas even if you're playing in a game where travel and survival are not a focus. And if you are playing a game where travel and survival are a focus, this expansion is exactly what you need. And if you're not playing at all right now, get this expansion, get your friends together, and play an around-the-world adventure or play as pioneers on a monster-infested Oregon Trail.

​It's been more than a couple of weeks, but I'm finished writing the Survival mini-expansion. I'm just going to do some editing, whip up a cover, and make a PDF, so that'll be out soon.

The other (bigger?) news is that we've got a whole bunch of classes and even a new Role ready for playtesting for an upcoming expansion book. If you're willing to get a few friends together and test out the new stuff, drop me an email and I'll send you the material.

Even cooler, a fan has made an online character generator! It has really come together nicely so far, and it's still being worked on to improve the experience, so go check it out and make some characters!

Hey, I haven’t updated in a while, but that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on with Strike! Well, to be honest, nothing was going on in April - I was incredibly busy with my “real” jobs, and I did zero work on Strike! However, May and June have been a different story. I’m working on a major project. Two major projects, really: a “Player options” book with new classes, roles, and a whole lot of items and equipment, and a book of pre-written monsters. I’ve already written about eighty monsters. I’ve got beta versions of five new classes, and Gabriel Butche, who wrote The Psion has written beta versions of four new classes and a new Role.

In the overlap between writing items and writing monsters, I’ll also be writing rules for a campaign set in a world where you hunt monsters and use their body parts to craft items.​And there’s more! I’m nearing completion on the next mini-expansion: Strike! Survival. I didn’t think I’d be writing another mini-expansion while I worked on these projects, but I’ve been thinking about this one for months and I finally had the insights I needed to make it happen. Strike! Survival will deal with man vs nature conflicts like you see in stories like The Martian, Seveneves, The Perfect Storm, Touching the Void, The Way Back, etc. If you want to run a campaign of exploration and pioneering on the Oregon Trail or a fantasy/sci-fi equivalent, this is the supplement you need. If you want to spice up travel scenes with real stakes and avoid the pitfalls that can make travel in RPGs boring, this is the supplement you need. Along with ideas for dangers and resources in several harsh environments, there are also rules for telling “A Harrowing Tale of Survival” In A Harrowing Tale of Survival, when a player character is lost and left for dead, they do not perish, but instead return, losing everything, but living to tell the tale. Check back in two weeks and I'll hopefully have it up for sale.

The Rogue is up! The Rogue is a new play experience built around the ideas of mobility and advantage in combat. Using move actions to set up powerful attacks, this class is perfect for anyone who wants to outmaneuver their foes. The Rogue has the best support of any class for stealthy play, so if stealth is what you're after, this class is a must. Not all Rogues are sneaky, though: you can also create highly mobile attackers who don't use stealth but have other means of generating advantage for themselves and others during combat.

I am happy to announce that the first expansion Class published for Strike! is not the upcoming Rogue, but is, in fact, The Psion. The Psion was written by Gabriel Butche, who has been playing Strike! since the days when it was still named Sacred BBQ. He writes:

The Psion is a Class focused around one of the more esoteric mechanics in Strike!, interrupts and reactions. On her turn the Psion may use one of several powers to prime her psionic abilities, giving her access to a menagerie of powers usable between now and her next turn - things like responding to enemy attacks with healing for teammates, grabbing foes who try to slink away, and even increasing the potency of zones as they're laid down! She also has access to several different class features which include making her and her teammates able to act with more bravado, swapping role boosts around the party, and of course, bending enemy's minds to your whims.

My opinion? The Psion is a very cool idea for a class that plays totally differently than the existing classes. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

If you are an aspiring designer and have any interest in making content for Strike!, it's simple! Just email me and give me a heads up and I can give you the thumbs up, send you templates and stuff to help you make the formatting look good, and if I like what you're making, I'll help promote your work here and on the various forums and media I frequent.

A woman found murdered? Barely news in a city of millions. A woman found murdered, shot dead with a gun that cannot be fired, laid out amid profane symbols painted in her own blood? You'll need to work fast to make sure this murder doesn't make the news at all, and faster to figure out whodunit, because you're pretty sure you don't want to see what happens if the killers finish what they've started...

If you want to get that adventure and the Strike! Vehicles mini-expansion for free, you can pledge to my Patreon to subscribe to all the new Strike! content I'm producing. For a limited time, any new patrons will get the first two mini-expansions free of charge! There has never been a better time to sign up. The next expansion coming up is a great one: the Rogue, a full new class. You have three options as a Rogue: the Poisoner whose toxins can quickly render enemies useless, the Brawler whose tricks make enemies give up advantage to you and your allies, or the Backstabber whose devastating attacks can hit enemies for massive damage.

Even if you already have the first expansions, I would love it if you would pledge to my Patreon - it's the best way to show your support for my work in making Strike! ever better. And if you're not a fan of Patreon, you can always buy the expansions individually.

If you are looking for a place to discuss Strike! with other fans, we now have a Google+ community set up. People are already sharing cool content there, so check it out and join in the fun!

The guide to making macros on Roll20.net is up on the Downloads page, written by Gabriel Butche. Roll20.net is a fantastic way to play Strike! online, making it easy to grab a pre-made map to use or to use the drawing tools to hastily improvise one for an unplanned combat. Macros make it even smoother and easier to use.

Woohoo! This whole publishing thing took longer than I anticipated, but it's done. If you have any friends who were on the fence or waiting for it to be published and complete, send them to this link: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/158239/Strike. The best thing you can do for Strike! now is to tell your friends about it and to play the game. Enjoy it!

The first mini-expansion is already for sale here. The second one is delayed for all sorts of reasons, but I'll put it out as soon as I reasonably can. I am happy to report that I am starting to be happy with it - the main thing slowing it down was that I thought it wasn't very good and needed more work but didn't know how to fix it.

At this point, everyone who was expecting an at-cost code should have one by now, except for the 30-ish people who haven't told me which kind they want. If you were expecting one and haven't got it, please check your spam folder. If you can't find it, just let me know and I'll sort it out for you.

So the proofs arrived this week. It's so cool to have my game in my hands! It's a good thing I ordered the proofs because several of the interior art pieces are too dark (things that look great on a screen can sometimes look too dark when printed), and we'll need to re-upload the files with lightened versions. That's my project for the weekend!

Also, to all you print backers and pre-orderers, I'll be sending out a survey this weekend to ask you which version you want: hardcover or softcover. You must reply to that survey! I'll send out a message with the costs and all the facts you'll need to make your decision.

Just got the word that the files were accepted by the printer (hooray!), so I have ordered proofs to make sure it all looks right. So as soon as those arrive, assuming they look good, I can get all the backers of print versions their at-cost codes.

However, the DrivethruRPG says shipping will be 3-7 weeks to Canada for my proofs! That seems like an awful long time to ship a couple of books. Also, the actual price is a few dollars higher than the price the estimator is giving me. I'll be inquiring as to why that is the case, since I'd like to get you all your books as cheaply as possible.​That's the situation as it stands. So there probably won't be another update on the print versions until the proofs arrive in a few weeks. It's all out of my hands until then.

I've got three projects in the pipeline right now. I'm working on the first mini-expansion: vehicles. That will be done by the end of the month, and you can read on to see what I have planned for it (a lot of stuff!). Second, I'm aiming to get the rogue into a playtestable state by the end of the month so that it can be tested through November and December when it will be released. And last, I have submitted the files for the print versions to drive thru and am waiting on them to approve. Once they are approved, I will get them to send me a hardcover and a paperback to check that they came out as intended. Assuming everything checks out, it is a click of a button to get them live for sale and a simple matter to get you backers your at-cost codes. So for now, that is pretty much out of my hands.Also, if you haven't redeemed the PDF discount code I sent out by now, you'll find that it has expired. Don't worry, though - just send me an email or message and I'll get you a new one.So what can you expect from vehicles?Fury Chase - an extended version of the chase mechanics where multiple chases are used to resolve one big violent chase. Maybe with extended rules for helping to make it more of a team thing. Tactical Vehicle Combat - What the name says on the box. Using the rules for "Simplified classes" (and some modified Roles?) to play out combats in starfighters, car wars, naval battles, etc. - With a planned-movement optional module to represent having to think ahead with your movement (I think I've got a good way to do this without making it too fiddly). - With rules for 'capital ships' based on Champions and Titans.Vehicles as Items - for when you want to ride into combat on your hog, whether you're a biker or a goblin with an unusual mount. Also a little bit of text about vehicles out of combat.